Just back from a fantastic Wendy Wu itinerary through Chongqing, Furong, and Zhangjiajie – and if you’ve been wondering whether China belongs on your travel wish list, the answer is a resounding yes. Here’s everything from getting there to the moments that took my breath away.
I flew China Eastern via their Shanghai hub (they also route through Beijing), connecting on to Chongqing. My honest rating: 3 out of 5. A few things to know before you book. It’s a dry airline relative to what you pay — no alcohol for purchase. Meals were fine, with two served across the 10.5-hour flight and no extras on offer, though I had no complaints there. The aircraft itself, an A330-200, was comfortable, and the 2-4-2 seating configuration worked well for the long haul.
Nothing quite prepares you for Chongqing. With 32 million people, the view leaving the airport is an endless stretch of towering apartment blocks, row after row disappearing into the distance. It’s staggering – and I found myself hoping there were enough jobs to go around for everyone living there. The airport transfer was refreshingly easy, just 25 minutes to our hotel, the Voco Chongqing Chaotianmen by IHG. It sits opposite Raffles City and only a 10-minute walk from the river. I really enjoyed staying here — from the street it looks more like an office tower than a hotel, so check-in is actually up on the third level, which catches a few guests out. It’s also about a 20-minute walk to the Jiefangbei pedestrian area, where you’ll find most of the international hotel brands clustered together.
The zoo is home to pandas, though it’s fairly modest in size, so keep expectations realistic. Far more spectacular is the drone light show, held every Saturday night at 8.30pm over 5,000 drones fly in perfectly coordinated formation to create huge illuminated images above the city skyline. It runs for about half an hour and is completely free to watch. Don’t miss Liziba Station, one of the city’s strangest and most photographed sights: Metro Line 2 runs directly through a residential apartment building, with trains passing every five minutes or so. The viewing walkway opposite gets busy, but there are shops across the road where you can grab a lemon tea and step out of the heat while you wait for the next train to come through. Overall, Chongqing is a city with a huge amount to see and genuinely excellent shopping.
One tip: get WeChat Pay set up before you start exploring in earnest. Once it was working, everything became so much easier — and the shop owners are wonderfully patient, happily helping tourists navigate WeChat or Alipay, with Google Translate doing the talking when needed.
For anyone with an interest in Chinese history, the Dazu Rock Carvings are well worth the trip, though it is a solid commitment at 2.5 hours’ drive each way. Once there, you’re shown a 3D film depicting everyday life in China across the 9th to 13th centuries, bringing real context to the carvings themselves before you go and see them in person.
Chongqing isn’t just a destination in its own right – it’s also the starting point for Yangtze River cruises, and a newly opened high-speed rail hub, Chongqing East Railway Station, now connects the city to Zhangjiajie by bullet train. Zhangjiajie is home to the world’s longest and highest glass-bottomed bridge, spanning an extraordinary 430 metres across the Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon. The full experience isn’t just about walking across it, either – there’s a zip line and a slide to get you down to the canyon floor, followed by a 3-kilometre walk through the canyon itself. Despite the hundreds of people who do this trail every single day, it felt remarkably calm and peaceful underfoot. The adventure wraps up with a boat ride to the pick-up point, where buses are waiting to take everyone onward.
From there, we explored Zhangjiajie National Park, the real-world landscape that inspired the floating mountains of the Avatar films. There’s an enormous amount to take in across this park, and it’s easy to spend a full day moving between its highlights. The Bailong Glass Elevator carries you up the cliff face with sweeping views of the park’s dramatic sandstone peaks, including the famous First Bridge Under the Sun and Hallelujah Mountain. From there, a cable car brings you back down. Every angle in this park feels like it belongs on a postcard.
If Zhangjiajie National Park is the inspiration, Tianmen Mountain is its spirit — widely regarded as the symbol and soul of the whole region. It’s an experience built for those with a head for heights: glass skywalks cling to the cliff edge, and the climb to Heaven’s Gate involves 999 steps, said to represent the journey to heaven itself. For those who’d rather not tackle the stairs, 15 escalators carry hundreds of visitors to the summit each day. The journey back down is just as memorable, via China’s longest cable car ride, delivering you right back into the heart of the city.
From the sheer scale of Chongqing to the quiet drama of the Grand Canyon glass bridge and the otherworldly peaks of Zhangjiajie, this trip was a reminder of just how much of China remains a genuine surprise, even for well-travelled visitors. If it’s not already on your list, it should be.
Wendy Wu’s tour was fabulous – the tour I did above was rated at a Physical Level 2: A moderate level of fitness is required. You will be on your feet for most of the day, with longer walks that include ascents and descents on steps or uneven paths. Travelling conditions may be more challenging in some areas.
